Defrost fan control
AssigneeTrane Technologies Life Sciences LLC
InventorsThomas A. Schoeppner, Alex Roberts, Trace A. Lydick, Mitchell J. Donnelly
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A refrigeration module of a cold space chamber has a blower and an evaporator. A method of controlling the refrigeration module includes defrosting a coil of the evaporator to form a volume of warm air surrounding the coil. The method includes circulating a refrigerant through the evaporator after defrosting the coil, to cool the coil. The method includes operating the blower in a series of pulses to control introduction of the volume of warm air into the cold space chamber.
Claims18
A method of controlling a refrigeration module of a cold space chamber, the refrigeration module having a blower and an evaporator, the method comprising:
- (a) defrosting a coil of the evaporator to form a volume of warm air surrounding the coil;
- (b) circulating a refrigerant through the evaporator after (a) to cool the coil;
- and
- (c) operating the blower in a series of pulses during (b) to control introduction of the volume of warm air to the cold space chamber, wherein (c) further comprises:
- (c1) activating the blower for a first pulse of the series of pulses;
- (c2) determining a temperature associated with the cold space chamber after (c1);
- and
- (c3) determining that the temperature has increased by a threshold amount during the first pulse and ending the first pulse to deactivate the blower based at least in part on the determination.
A cold storage system comprising:
- a housing defining a cold space chamber therein;
- a refrigeration module configured to cool the cold space chamber, the refrigeration module including an evaporator and a blower configured to generate an airflow from the evaporator to the cold space chamber;
- and
- a controller, communicatively coupled to the refrigeration module and configured to:
- (a) defrost a coil of the evaporator to form a volume of warm air surrounding the coil;
- (b) circulate a refrigerant through the evaporator after (a) to cool the coil;
- and
- (c) activate the blower in a series of pulses during (b) to control introduction of the volume of warm air to the cold space chamber, wherein, the controller is further configured to:
- (c1) activate the blower for a first pulse of the series of pulses;
- (c2) determine a temperature associated with the cold space chamber after (c1);
- and
- (c3) determine that the temperature has increased by a threshold amount during the first pulse and ending the first pulse to deactivate the blower based at least in part on the determination.
A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media having instructions thereupon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
- (a) defrosting a coil of an evaporator to form a volume of warm air surrounding the coil;
- (b) circulating a refrigerant through the evaporator after (a) to cool the coil;
- and
- (c) operating a blower in a series of pulses during (b) to control introduction of the volume of warm air to a cold space chamber wherein (c) further comprises:
- (c1) activating the blower for a first pulse of the series of pulses;
- (c2) determining a temperature associated with the cold space chamber after (c1);
- and
- (c3) determining that the temperature has increased by a threshold amount during the first pulse and ending the first pulse to deactivate the blower based at least in part on the determination.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.